The house of Mozart and Vienna attractions
Back up the Wollzeile and beyond the yellow Konig von Ungarn Hotel is the entrance to the Domgasse, where stands the house in which Mozart first lived in Vienna. Some of its exhibits appear closely con¬nected with the composer, while others, though interesting, have little relevance to Mozart's stay in the capital.
The Grunangergasse, at the corner of the Domgasse, has the imposing Baroque Palais Furstenberg, whose portal is guarded by two stone greyhounds. On one side of the street, which is one of the best-preserved architectural ensembles in the city, is the Green Anchor, which eighty years ago was one of the best-known Italian restaurants in the empire. It still has considerable charm. In the summer, it is possible to sit outside in the shadow of the cathedral's soaring tower and enjoy a first class wine list. The speciality of this restaurant, which must be sampled, is the so-called Schlosserbuben, a chocolate and nut pudding which is un¬rivalled.
The Singerstrasse Vienna
The Singerstrasse beyond is dominated on the left by the handsome Palais Rottal, designed in 1750 by Franz Hillebrandt, one of the second division of Austria's Baroque architects. The facade makes effective use of pilasters without capitals, a favourite motif of the period. The entire street towards the cathedral is rich in Baroque houses, of which the grandest is the Palais Neupauer, erected in 1715 by an unknown arch¬itect.
Across the Singerstrasse, there is an even more picturesque ensemble in the form of the Franziskanerplatz. This square, with its uneven roof¬line and fountain alas, usually surrounded by cars has remained virtually unchanged for centuries. The towering chimneys of the corner houses and the elegant gables of the Franciscan church facade combine attractively with the ironwork of the Baroque house on the Weihburg¬gasse. Flanked by a green painted wooden front is the notorious Kleines Cafe, the coffee-house for the 'alternative' middle-aged of the city, daily resounding to the cries of children, usually wheeled in by their unmarried mothers between shopping expeditions.
The square's fountain depicts Moses and dates from 1798.
The Franciscan church, with its attached cloister, is a strange building. The roundels which mark the facade were once the only windows, as the establishment was first conceived as a house of correction from which its hapless inmates would not be permitted to look out onto the road beyond. The church was begun in 1603, but there are Gothic as well as Renaissance elements in the front. Predictably, the interior is mainly Baroque, with a high altar by Andrea Pozzo, whose work we have already admired in the Jesuitenkirche. Above stands an exquisitely carved organ which dates from the seventeenth century. A fashionable church on Sunday, it is much in demand for society weddings.
Under an archway in the south corner of the square begins the old and winding Ballgasse, which leads past various cafes to the Rauhen¬steingasse. No.8, which houses one of the best bakeries in the city, is impressively Baroque, and on the site of the house next door Mozart composed his Magic Flute and Requiem, and died.
The Rauhensteingasse leads to the Himmelpfortgasse and the Cafe Frauenhuber, a long established cafe which adheres rigidly to the rules of coffee nomenclature. It may therefore be a suitable moment to point out that simply ordering 'a coffee' is impossible in Vienna. Every shade is given a name, to say nothing of optional extras like cocoa powder, whipped cream, rum or even eggs. The term 'Melange' will usually produce the familiar coffee with milk. But those who require a stronger cup will usually order 'einen braunen' or, if no milk whatsoever is desired, 'eine schwarze Mokka'.
Coffee with masses of whipped cream, usually served in a glass, is known as an Einspiinner, while different shades of the popular Melange can be ordered by reference to the colour of certain monastic orders' habits. Thus a Franziskaner is lighter than a Capuziner. Different cafes have slightly varying definitions, but the above will serve as a general guide in all the older establishments.
Next door to the Frauenhuber is a remarkable secular work of Fischer von Erlach, Prince Eugen of Savoy's Winter Palace built between 1695 and 1698. Much has been written about the delicate sculpture of the facade, the noble proportioning of the storeys and the dramatic use of pilasters. The palace now houses the Austrian Exchequer. Its staircase represents the culmination of Fischer's highly plastic style and manifests a break with the traditions of Roman Baroque. No Italian architect would have resorted to the curiously tortured and weird forms Fischer delights in here.
The Kartnrstrasse Vienna
At the end of the Himmelpfortgasse is a depressing sight: the busiest and alas ugliest principal thoroughfare of the city, the Kartnerstrasse, spoiled by tacky department stores and a series of lanterns which must rank among the most hideous of any city in Europe.
The Neuer Markt Vienna
Crossing over into the altogether more agreeable Neuer Markt, we should (without failing to admire the more pleasing facades above the shops) make straight for the red, restored Capuchin church (1622-32). Few facades are as dull and unprepossessing. But the door on the left gives entrance into the most hallowed quarters of imperial Vienna, the Habsburg vaults. It will be recalled that the hearts of the Habsburgs are in the Augustine church, but their tombs are mostly here. The vaults are open every day of the year and visitors are exhorted to conduct themselves in a respectful and silent manner.
However, once the garish staircase into the vaults has been negotiated, the bold letters demanding 'Silentium' seem a little pointless as, unless we are very lucky, the sound of tour groups each hearing a detailed description of the personages contained within the sarcophagi will destroy any sense of mystery sur¬rounding this macabre resting place. The lunch hour or the late after¬noon, before the Gruft closes, are the best times to contemplate these sombre relics in peace.
We arrive at the end of the stairs in the 'old vault', enlarged in 1701.
This contains the sarcophagi of the earliest Habsburgs, from Matthias (d. 1619) onwards. To the left is the new vault, added in 1748 and dominated by the Baroque hyperbole of Maria Theresa's enormous double sarcophagus in which she lies with her husband. As befits his character, an altogether far less showy sarcophagus contains the remains of Joseph II. Beyond stands the more 'empire' tomb of Francis I. To the right of this room a low dark vault contains the sarcophagi of Archduke Charles, the Austrian general who defeated Napoleon at the battle of Aspern, Maximilian, the ill-fated emperor of Mexico who met his death at the hands of a revolutionary firing squad in 1867, and, opposite, the beautiful Marie Louise, the second wife of Napoleon, who died in 1847.
A room straight ahead leads to Franz Josef (d.1916), who reigned for over sixty years, and his wife, the Empress Elizabeth. The third tomb is that of another Habsburg to die violently, Crown Prince Rudolf, victim of the hunting lodge tragedy at Mayerling in 1889. The stream of myths and stories which surround Rudolf's death are unequalled in modern royal fiction, and mystery still surrounds what is generally believed to have been a suicide pact with his mistress, Marie Vetsera.
Beyond, an altar marks an empty vault kept immaculately clean. A bust of Austria's last emperor, Kaiser Karl, who died in exile on the island of Madeira in 1922, marks one wall. Whether he will return from that island to lie here among his dynastic relatives is a thorny question for the Austrian government, ever wary of anything which might arouse monarchist feeling, but in the meantime an army of cleaners keep every square inch spotless.
Another Habsburg who was a contemporary of Karl's and does not lie here is the Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the heir to the Habsburg throne whose assassination was the fuse to the First World War. He had married a mere countess, much to the horror of his imperial and royal relatives, and rather than allow himself to be buried away from her, he insisted long before he met his death with her on the streets of Sarajevo that they should enjoy each other's company for ever at the castle of Artstetten along the Danube. He is reported to have dismissed the imperial vaults with the words: 'I would never have any peace lying there with electric trams rattling overhead all the time.'
The Sacher Hotel Vienna
From the Capuchin vaults, a brief walk past the Tirolerhof Cafe leads to the Opera, opposite which stands the best-known hotel in the city, the Sacher. Sacher's is clearly not what it was. The unlimited credit afforded to favoured guests in Frau Sacher's time is today almost non-existent, so that the culinary delights of the restaurant (especially to be recommended is the Kalbschnitzel Eduard Sacher) cannot be enjoyed with credit cards. Even cheques are rarely accepted. But these slight irritations aside, the rooms of the Sacher, like its Kaffeehaus, boast a collection of paintings no hotel in the world can rival.
Even Otto von Habsburg, the present heir to the Habsburg claims, peers in full-dress Austrian uniform between Biedermeier paintings on a second-floor corridor. The hall of the hotel also contains a photograph gallery, open most evenings after five o'clock, which houses portraits of the most distinguished guests who have stayed here, including members of the British military government whose officers' mess this was after the Second World War. The famous Austrian aristocratic names of Her¬berstein and Czernin appear as smudged signatures across the uniforms of the most dashing nobility Europe ever knew.
The Vienna Opera and the Karlsplatz
From the Opera, it is just a couple of minutes' walk to the Karlsplatz where, as well as some of Otto Wagner's more quaint railways stations, recently restored in vivid golds and greens, there is another monument of the fertile Jugendstil period, the Secession building, constructed by Wagner's most gifted pupil, Josef Olbrich, in 1897-8. Its copper 'cab¬bage' dome and very simple form enraged the Viennese, but the building served as a suitably unconventional home for the exhibitions of all the great turn-of-the-century artists. Klimt, Hoffmann and Kolo Moser all exhibited here in protest at the conservative and reactionary artists of the Academy. Today the building boasts no such talented or revolutionary exhibits and those who wish to see more of Vienna's 'golden period' should pursue the Wienzeile, past the markets and well-known Saturday morning antique fairs, to the mosaiced and highly decorative houses of Otto Wagner, a few hundred yards down on the right.
Those, however, who prefer the more sumptuous delights of the Baroque should cross the Karlsplatz to examine Fischer von Erlach's supreme ecclesiastical achievement, the Karlskirche. Few churches even of the Baroque period made as much use of the dramatic and monu¬mental devices available to their architects as this extraordinary building. One glance is enough to convince anyone that it is a most remarkable creation.
The commission to build the church was given to Fischer by the emperor in fulfilment of a vow made to St Charles Borromeo in 1713, as thanksgiving for deliverance from the plague. As in Fischer's great church the Kollegienkirche in Salzburg, the facade is kept low, but here because of the breadth of the site the fas;ade stretches to over 180 feet in its entirety. Drawing on his immense knowledge of 'world architecture.´ Fischer was the first architect to write a history of arch¬itecture, and he employed Roman Trajan columns modelled on those in the Forum to flank the fascade, with reliefs symbolizing the victory of faith over disease.
The Grunangergasse, at the corner of the Domgasse, has the imposing Baroque Palais Furstenberg, whose portal is guarded by two stone greyhounds. On one side of the street, which is one of the best-preserved architectural ensembles in the city, is the Green Anchor, which eighty years ago was one of the best-known Italian restaurants in the empire. It still has considerable charm. In the summer, it is possible to sit outside in the shadow of the cathedral's soaring tower and enjoy a first class wine list. The speciality of this restaurant, which must be sampled, is the so-called Schlosserbuben, a chocolate and nut pudding which is un¬rivalled.
The Singerstrasse Vienna
The Singerstrasse beyond is dominated on the left by the handsome Palais Rottal, designed in 1750 by Franz Hillebrandt, one of the second division of Austria's Baroque architects. The facade makes effective use of pilasters without capitals, a favourite motif of the period. The entire street towards the cathedral is rich in Baroque houses, of which the grandest is the Palais Neupauer, erected in 1715 by an unknown arch¬itect.
Across the Singerstrasse, there is an even more picturesque ensemble in the form of the Franziskanerplatz. This square, with its uneven roof¬line and fountain alas, usually surrounded by cars has remained virtually unchanged for centuries. The towering chimneys of the corner houses and the elegant gables of the Franciscan church facade combine attractively with the ironwork of the Baroque house on the Weihburg¬gasse. Flanked by a green painted wooden front is the notorious Kleines Cafe, the coffee-house for the 'alternative' middle-aged of the city, daily resounding to the cries of children, usually wheeled in by their unmarried mothers between shopping expeditions.
The square's fountain depicts Moses and dates from 1798.
The Franciscan church, with its attached cloister, is a strange building. The roundels which mark the facade were once the only windows, as the establishment was first conceived as a house of correction from which its hapless inmates would not be permitted to look out onto the road beyond. The church was begun in 1603, but there are Gothic as well as Renaissance elements in the front. Predictably, the interior is mainly Baroque, with a high altar by Andrea Pozzo, whose work we have already admired in the Jesuitenkirche. Above stands an exquisitely carved organ which dates from the seventeenth century. A fashionable church on Sunday, it is much in demand for society weddings.
Under an archway in the south corner of the square begins the old and winding Ballgasse, which leads past various cafes to the Rauhen¬steingasse. No.8, which houses one of the best bakeries in the city, is impressively Baroque, and on the site of the house next door Mozart composed his Magic Flute and Requiem, and died.
The Rauhensteingasse leads to the Himmelpfortgasse and the Cafe Frauenhuber, a long established cafe which adheres rigidly to the rules of coffee nomenclature. It may therefore be a suitable moment to point out that simply ordering 'a coffee' is impossible in Vienna. Every shade is given a name, to say nothing of optional extras like cocoa powder, whipped cream, rum or even eggs. The term 'Melange' will usually produce the familiar coffee with milk. But those who require a stronger cup will usually order 'einen braunen' or, if no milk whatsoever is desired, 'eine schwarze Mokka'.
Coffee with masses of whipped cream, usually served in a glass, is known as an Einspiinner, while different shades of the popular Melange can be ordered by reference to the colour of certain monastic orders' habits. Thus a Franziskaner is lighter than a Capuziner. Different cafes have slightly varying definitions, but the above will serve as a general guide in all the older establishments.
Next door to the Frauenhuber is a remarkable secular work of Fischer von Erlach, Prince Eugen of Savoy's Winter Palace built between 1695 and 1698. Much has been written about the delicate sculpture of the facade, the noble proportioning of the storeys and the dramatic use of pilasters. The palace now houses the Austrian Exchequer. Its staircase represents the culmination of Fischer's highly plastic style and manifests a break with the traditions of Roman Baroque. No Italian architect would have resorted to the curiously tortured and weird forms Fischer delights in here.
The Kartnrstrasse Vienna
At the end of the Himmelpfortgasse is a depressing sight: the busiest and alas ugliest principal thoroughfare of the city, the Kartnerstrasse, spoiled by tacky department stores and a series of lanterns which must rank among the most hideous of any city in Europe.
The Neuer Markt Vienna
Crossing over into the altogether more agreeable Neuer Markt, we should (without failing to admire the more pleasing facades above the shops) make straight for the red, restored Capuchin church (1622-32). Few facades are as dull and unprepossessing. But the door on the left gives entrance into the most hallowed quarters of imperial Vienna, the Habsburg vaults. It will be recalled that the hearts of the Habsburgs are in the Augustine church, but their tombs are mostly here. The vaults are open every day of the year and visitors are exhorted to conduct themselves in a respectful and silent manner.
However, once the garish staircase into the vaults has been negotiated, the bold letters demanding 'Silentium' seem a little pointless as, unless we are very lucky, the sound of tour groups each hearing a detailed description of the personages contained within the sarcophagi will destroy any sense of mystery sur¬rounding this macabre resting place. The lunch hour or the late after¬noon, before the Gruft closes, are the best times to contemplate these sombre relics in peace.
We arrive at the end of the stairs in the 'old vault', enlarged in 1701.
This contains the sarcophagi of the earliest Habsburgs, from Matthias (d. 1619) onwards. To the left is the new vault, added in 1748 and dominated by the Baroque hyperbole of Maria Theresa's enormous double sarcophagus in which she lies with her husband. As befits his character, an altogether far less showy sarcophagus contains the remains of Joseph II. Beyond stands the more 'empire' tomb of Francis I. To the right of this room a low dark vault contains the sarcophagi of Archduke Charles, the Austrian general who defeated Napoleon at the battle of Aspern, Maximilian, the ill-fated emperor of Mexico who met his death at the hands of a revolutionary firing squad in 1867, and, opposite, the beautiful Marie Louise, the second wife of Napoleon, who died in 1847.
A room straight ahead leads to Franz Josef (d.1916), who reigned for over sixty years, and his wife, the Empress Elizabeth. The third tomb is that of another Habsburg to die violently, Crown Prince Rudolf, victim of the hunting lodge tragedy at Mayerling in 1889. The stream of myths and stories which surround Rudolf's death are unequalled in modern royal fiction, and mystery still surrounds what is generally believed to have been a suicide pact with his mistress, Marie Vetsera.
Beyond, an altar marks an empty vault kept immaculately clean. A bust of Austria's last emperor, Kaiser Karl, who died in exile on the island of Madeira in 1922, marks one wall. Whether he will return from that island to lie here among his dynastic relatives is a thorny question for the Austrian government, ever wary of anything which might arouse monarchist feeling, but in the meantime an army of cleaners keep every square inch spotless.
Another Habsburg who was a contemporary of Karl's and does not lie here is the Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the heir to the Habsburg throne whose assassination was the fuse to the First World War. He had married a mere countess, much to the horror of his imperial and royal relatives, and rather than allow himself to be buried away from her, he insisted long before he met his death with her on the streets of Sarajevo that they should enjoy each other's company for ever at the castle of Artstetten along the Danube. He is reported to have dismissed the imperial vaults with the words: 'I would never have any peace lying there with electric trams rattling overhead all the time.'
The Sacher Hotel Vienna
From the Capuchin vaults, a brief walk past the Tirolerhof Cafe leads to the Opera, opposite which stands the best-known hotel in the city, the Sacher. Sacher's is clearly not what it was. The unlimited credit afforded to favoured guests in Frau Sacher's time is today almost non-existent, so that the culinary delights of the restaurant (especially to be recommended is the Kalbschnitzel Eduard Sacher) cannot be enjoyed with credit cards. Even cheques are rarely accepted. But these slight irritations aside, the rooms of the Sacher, like its Kaffeehaus, boast a collection of paintings no hotel in the world can rival.
Even Otto von Habsburg, the present heir to the Habsburg claims, peers in full-dress Austrian uniform between Biedermeier paintings on a second-floor corridor. The hall of the hotel also contains a photograph gallery, open most evenings after five o'clock, which houses portraits of the most distinguished guests who have stayed here, including members of the British military government whose officers' mess this was after the Second World War. The famous Austrian aristocratic names of Her¬berstein and Czernin appear as smudged signatures across the uniforms of the most dashing nobility Europe ever knew.
The Vienna Opera and the Karlsplatz
From the Opera, it is just a couple of minutes' walk to the Karlsplatz where, as well as some of Otto Wagner's more quaint railways stations, recently restored in vivid golds and greens, there is another monument of the fertile Jugendstil period, the Secession building, constructed by Wagner's most gifted pupil, Josef Olbrich, in 1897-8. Its copper 'cab¬bage' dome and very simple form enraged the Viennese, but the building served as a suitably unconventional home for the exhibitions of all the great turn-of-the-century artists. Klimt, Hoffmann and Kolo Moser all exhibited here in protest at the conservative and reactionary artists of the Academy. Today the building boasts no such talented or revolutionary exhibits and those who wish to see more of Vienna's 'golden period' should pursue the Wienzeile, past the markets and well-known Saturday morning antique fairs, to the mosaiced and highly decorative houses of Otto Wagner, a few hundred yards down on the right.
Those, however, who prefer the more sumptuous delights of the Baroque should cross the Karlsplatz to examine Fischer von Erlach's supreme ecclesiastical achievement, the Karlskirche. Few churches even of the Baroque period made as much use of the dramatic and monu¬mental devices available to their architects as this extraordinary building. One glance is enough to convince anyone that it is a most remarkable creation.
The commission to build the church was given to Fischer by the emperor in fulfilment of a vow made to St Charles Borromeo in 1713, as thanksgiving for deliverance from the plague. As in Fischer's great church the Kollegienkirche in Salzburg, the facade is kept low, but here because of the breadth of the site the fas;ade stretches to over 180 feet in its entirety. Drawing on his immense knowledge of 'world architecture.´ Fischer was the first architect to write a history of arch¬itecture, and he employed Roman Trajan columns modelled on those in the Forum to flank the fascade, with reliefs symbolizing the victory of faith over disease.
Labels: Sacher Hotel Vienna, Vienna Opera and the Karlsplatz
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